Car counting systems



illy 24, 19 B. MISHELEVICH ETAL 3,04

CAR COUNTING SYSTEMS Filed Feb. 7, 1956 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Route $801090?Route Szonzge fmm domrol Machine Haszer @etardey Erom Ham};

INVENTORS. Benjamin Hz'sbeleviclz and Sill Huin Tszzng TIIEIR ATTORNEYJuly 24., 1962 Filed Feb. '7, 1956 B. MISHELEVICH EI'AL CAR COUNTINGSYSTEMS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 U M45126 i-+55 Mm; #543; J. 1V

FJASD r lTaz bank is inpragress Energized when rozzze stored in B bank.

fleenergz'zed when 120 1' route transfer izna B Track 5 41 2 Fall BSD

AAAAAAA I21]; 14 I5 f6 i7 {5 i9 110 INVENTORS. Benjamin Misbelevicb andJill Hszzzizz fi'ialzy BY THEIR. A TTORWE' Y July 24, 1962 B.MISHELEVICH ET AL CAR COUNTING 'SYSTEMS Filed Feb. '7, 1956 3Sheets-Sheet 3 BY km THEIR A TTORNEY United States Patent 3,046,594 CARCOUNTING SYSTEMS Benjamin Mishelevich and Sih Hsuin Tsiang, Pittsburgh,Pa, assignors to Westinghouse Air Brake Company, Wilmerding, Pa., acorporation of Pennsylvania Filed Feb. 7, 1956, Ser. No. 564,027 Claims.(Cl. 246--182) Our invention pertains to a railway car counting systemand more particularly to a system for indicating the fullness of thestorage tracks in a railway, classification yard.

Reference is made to the railway car counting system disclosed andclaimed in Letters Patent of the United States 2,964,617, issued to usDecember 13, 1960, on an application filed May 11, 1956, both casesbeing assigned to the'same assignee. However, although disclosingapparatus having similar purpose, there is no common subject mattershown in this application and claimed in Patent 2,964,617, andvice-versa.

In the operation of automatic classification yards, it is sometimes thepractice to completely automatically control only thema-ster andintermediate car retarders and retain the control of the group or finalcar retarders on a partially manual basis. In other words, the main ormaster retarder on the hump lead and the following intermediateretarders on the main diverging leads are provided with speed controlsystems in which the leaving speed from the rearder for a car or a cutof cars is automatically selected according to the measured weight ofthe cars, the rolling resistance of the cut, and/or other factors. Thepressure applied by this car rearder is then automatically controlled inorder that the cut will leave the retarder at the selected speed. Suchsystems of speed control are well known and are presently used inclassification yards. The final or group retarders are then providedwith a speed control system in which the leaving speed is selectedmanually by the retarder operator according to his estimate of theleaving speed required in order for a cut of cars to reach its finaldestination at the proper speed. This manually selected leaving speed isthen used to control the speed control system which automaticallyprovides the necessary retarder pressure to result in the car leavingthe retarder at the selected speed. To assist the retarder operator, asmuch information as possible is given to him regarding the car or thecut of cars approaching any particular group retarder. In addition tosuch factors as weight and rolling resistance, it is desirable toinclude in this information an indication of the fullness of the finalstorage track to which the car is destined. All of this informationenables the operator to estimate more accurately the proper leavingspeed necessary to have the cars arrive at their destination at a speedwhich will result in coupling with the standing cars without damage toany car or its contents.

In many such classification yards, 'a count of only the cuts of carsentering a particular storage track is sufficiently accurate forpurposes of retarder control. In other words, knowing the average numberof cars in the cuts in a particular yard from experience in operatingthe yard, an estimate of how many such multiple and single car cuts eachstorage track will hold is possible with a reasonable degree ofaccuracy. With the automatic switching system generally provided in suchyards, a means is readily available to determine when a cut of carsenters a track without having to supply extra detector equipment. Avisible display or other indication can then be provided to show afullness factor for each storage track according to the fractionaldegree of track occupancy. Coupled with other information, this trackfullness indication allows the operator of the final or group carretarders to more accurately estimate the re- I I fullness indication,for each storage track in a railway classification yard. I

A further object of our invention is to provide an improved cut countingscheme for the multiple car cuts entering a storage track in a railwayclassification yard. Still another object is to provide an improvedtrack fullness indication for storage tracks in a railway classificationyard using the detection provided as part of the automatic switchingsystem for thatyard.

Other objects and features of our invention will be obvious from thefollowing specification when taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings.

In practicing our invention, we provide for each storage track in suchaclassification yard an electrical counting device of the type whichadvances one step, that is, one unit in the count, each time the deviceis energized. The counting device for a particular storage track is thenenergized each time the detector track section of the last switch in theroute is occupied by a cut of cars destined to that particular storagetrack. Since our arrangement is particularly designed for use in railwayclassification yards having an automatic switching system, contacts ofthe relays associated with this automatic switching system are utilizedto determine the destination of a cut of cars and to prevent anovercount, that is, to permitonly one count for each cut of cars. As themultiple car out enters a switch detector track section, the position ofthat switch determines which counting device will be actuated to recordthat particular cut and thus the count is made in the proper storagetrack. The relay action which occurs to transfer or cancel the routestored in the associated storage bank is utilized to assure that the cutis counted only once. By use of the relays of the automatic switchingsystem, we also differentiate between cuts passing over a particularswitch where the route over one position of that switch leads to asingle end or storage track and the route over the other position of theswitch leads to several storage tracks. over other switches. 'In otherwords, unless the cut of cars passing over a particular switch isactually entering a storage track, the cut is not counted at the time itoccupies that particular detector circuit. Finally, the counting devicesfor each storage track are used to provide a visible indication, of thedegree of track'fullness, to the operator of the final or groupretarders in that yard.

We will now describe two forms of apparatus embodying our invention andthen point out the novel features thereof in the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings, FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic tracks 1, 2, and 3of FIG. 1. In each of the drawings, similar reference characters 7 referto similar parts of the apparatus.

Referringnow to FIG. 1, there is shown therein portions of the layoutfor a small, 12 track railway classification yard which will provide abasis for descriptionof our invention. It is not intended that thisclassifica tion yard as shown is a typical yard but only a layout whichwill be sufficient for an understanding of our in vention. Much of thisdrawing is shown conventionally. In other words, the tracks are shown byconventional 3,046,394- Patented July 24,1962

' 3 single lines while car retarders and route storage relay banks ofthe automatic switching system are shown by conventional blocks. It willbe noted that only six of the 12 tracks are actually indicated, theintervening six tracks, Nos. 4 to 9, being assumed to be divided intotwo groups of three tracks each. This yard is equipped with a singlemaster retarder and a final or group retarder for each group of threetracks, the yard being of such a small nature that intermediateretarders are not needed. Each of the group retarders shown is numberedaccording to the classification or storage tracks to which cars passingthrough the retarder are destined. Each switch is designated by a numberwhich is indicative of the storage tracks to which cars passing overthat switch may be routed. For example, the switch 1-2 controls therouting of cars between tracks 1 and 2 while the switch 13 has controlof cars routed to track 3 or to the tracks 1 and 2. This yard is alsoequipped with an automatic switching system and a flow chart for theroute storages for the cuts of cars is indicated in a conventional wayfor the tracks shown. The fiow of the route storages is from the controlmachine through the various storage banks at each of the switches shownand is obvious by following the arrows on the drawings. It will be notedthat switches 13 and 12 are provided with A and B storage banks whilethe final switches 1--2 and 1112 are each supplied with only a singlestorage bank as is the custom in such automatic switching systems.

The master retarder in this classification yard shown in FIG. 1 isassumed to be provided with an automatic speed control apparatus inwhich the proper or desired leaving speed is automatically selected bythe car weight. The

actual apparatus used forms no part of our invention and any such speedcontrol system well known in the art may be used. It is to be noted thatsuch automatic speed control systems are in present day use in railwayclassification yards. Each group retarder in this symbolic yard isassumed to be provided with an automatic speed control system in whichthe leaving speed is manually selected by an opertor. Again, suchsystems are in general use in classification yards but the details formno part of our invention and any such well known system may be used. Forexample, the speed control system used for the group retarders may bethat shown in the copending application for Letters Patent of the UnitedStates, Serial No. 283,931, filed April 23, 1952 by David P.Fitzsimmons, for Railway Car Speed Determining and Control Apparatus,now Patent No. 2,751,492, granted June 19, 1956. The operatorcontrolling this speed control system for the group retarders isprovided with information regarding the car weight, rolling resistance,and other factors of the cars or cuts of cars approaching and passingthrough each of the group retarders. By our invention, the operator isalso provided with an indication of the fullness of each storage trackto which the cars are destined to permit him to more closely estimatethe proper leaving speed from the various retarders. The details of thistrack fullness system of our invention are shown in FIG. 2 and, bearingthis classification yard of FIG. 1 in mind, we shall now describe theoperation of the system of our invention.

Referring now to FIGS. 2a and 2b, there is shown across the top of thetwo drawings, by conventional symbols, the stretch of track that is thelead to the group of storage tracks 1, 2, and 3 of the classificationyard of FIG. 1. Switch 1-3 diverts cars from the group lead into track 3while switch 12 routes the cars between track 1 and track 2, these beingthe final tracks in this particular group. As was previously mentioned,this classification yard is provided with an automatic switching system.Although the details of the automatic switching system as such are notpart of the system of our invention, for purposes of the followingdiscussion it is assumed that the switching system here provided is thatshown in the copending application for Letters Patent of the UnitedStates, Serial No. 355,281, filed May 15, 1953, by Benjamin Mishelevichfor Automatic Control of Railway Classification Yard Track Switches, nowPatent No. 2,863,991, issued December 9, 1958. This automatic switchingsystem is also shown and described in Manual 517 entitled UnionAutomatic Switching for Classification Yards, published in January 1953by the Union Switch & Signal, Division of Westinghouse Air Brake Co.Reference is made to either of these publications for a completedescription and understanding of the automatic switching system hereprovided. Only that portion necessary to describe and understand ourinvention is shown. In other words, in FIG. 2, only the route storagetransfer circuits are illustrated, as these are the only portion of thesystem that is required for an understanding of our invention.

In each of the drawings of FIG. 2, a local source of direct currentenergy is provided, although not shown. It is assumed that this sourceis a battery having positive and negative terminals B and N,respectively.

In FIG. 2a, as previously mentioned, switch 13 is used to divert singleor multiple car cuts from the group track lead to track 3. Thepositioning of this switch to its normal and reverse positions isrespectively repeated by the normal switch repeater relay 13NWP and thereverse switch repeater relay 1-3RWP. These two relays are energized byobvious circuits completed over a contactor 11 which i operablyconnected to the switch movement 13 to move between its normal positionshown solid in the drawings and its reverse position shown dotted in thedrawings. The similar switch repeater relays for the switch 12 shown inFIG. 2b are the relays 1-2NWP and 12RWP. These relays are energized oneat a time over similar circuits controlled by a contactor 12.

Each switch shown is included in a detector track section set off byinsulated joints and having a track circuit to provide for switchlocking when a cut of cars is passing over the switch. Each of thesetrack circuits includes a track relay designated by the referencecharacter TR prefixed by a numeral corresponding to the numericaldesignation of the switch. Each track relay is energized through asimple circuit, including the rails of the track section, by a trackbattery, the connections of the track relay and battery to the railsbeing shown in a conventional manner. Each of these track relays isnormally energized when no car occupies any portion of the rails of thetrack circuit and becomes deenergized during the occupancy of the tracksection by a car or cut of cars. Each detector track section is of suchlength that the track relay is continuously deenergized during theoccupancy of the track section by a car or cut of cars. In other words,each track relay is continuously deenergized from the time that theleading pair of wheels of a cut of cars enters the track correspondingsection until the last pair of wheels has passed completely out of thetrack section.

The final or A route storage bank at each switch location includes thestorage transfer relay AST, the storage detector relay ASD, and thestorage detector repeater stick relay ASDPS. The storage transfer relayAST picks up to initiate the transfer of a route storage from thepreceding storage bank into the particular bank with which it isassociated. The storage detector relay ASD picks up to complete theroute transfer and then holds up to retain the route description storedin the associated storage bank. Finally, the storage detector repeaterstick relay ASDPS in a sense repeats the release of the track relay. Itcan pick up only once during a track circuit occupancy and thus enforcesthe condition that only one storage can be transferred each time a cutoccupies the associated track section. In addition, at switch 1-3, the Abank also includes a storage transfer repeater stick relay ASTPS whichpicks up when the transfer of storage to the succeeding storage unit ismade. This relay also picks up only once during each occupancy of thedetector track section and as will appear shortly enforces this samecondition on the associated ASDPS relay. Each of these mentioned relaysat a particular switch location is designated by the reference charactergiven above prefixed by a numeral corresponding to the switch referencenumeral.

Referring now to FIG. 2a, storage transfer relay 1-3AST is energized, toinitiate a transfer of a route storage into the A storage bank whenempty, over a circuit traced from terminal B over back contact 13 oftransfer relay 13BST and front contact 14 of storage relay 1-3BSD, bothin the B storage bank at this location, and thence over back contact 15of relay 13ASD through the winding of relay l-3AST to terminal N. Whenthis relay picks up, its front contact 16 provides a stick circuitlay-passing back contact I5 of the storage detectorrelay. With relayl-3AST picked up and its front contacts closed, the energizingcircuitfor the storage detector relay is completed and may be tracedfrom terminal B over front contact 17 of relay I3AST, the winding ofrelay 13ASD, and back contact 18 of relay 1--3ASDPS to terminal N. Relay1-3ASD picks up and closes its front contact 19 to complete a stickcircuit by-passing front contact 17. As will appear shortly, this latterrelay remains held up by its stick circuit until a cut enters thedetector track section of the associated switch. When relay 13ASD picksup, it also permits the route stored in the B storage bank to betransferred into the storage relays of the A storage bank, as isdescribed in the previously mentioned publications dealing with thisautomatic switching system. When this route storage is transferred fromthe B bank, relay 13BSD is deenergized and releases to open its frontcontact 14 which interrupts the stick circuit for relay 1-3AST whichin'turn releases. It will be noted that, with a route stored in the Abank, the storage transfer relay 13A ST, once released, cannot bereenergized due to open back contact 15 until the route is transferredto the next storage bank at the next switch location or until the routeis cancelled 1 if the car is destined for track 3.

, When the cut of cars whose route destination is stored in the A bankat this switch location enters the detector track section, relay l-STRis deenergized and releases. This completes a circuit for energizingrelay 13ASDPS extending from terminal B over front contact 24] of relay13ASD, back contact 21 of ll3ASTPS, back contact 22 of relay 1-3TR, andthe Winding of relay 1-3ASDPS to terminal N. The closing of its ownfront contact 23 completes a stick circuit for relay 1-3ASDPS which alsoincludes front contact of relay 1-3ASD. If this cut of cars is destinedfor either track 1 or track 2, relay 13ASD is held energized until theroute transfer is completed. The circuit for holding relay 1-3ASDenergized under these circumstances includes its own front contact 19and the relay winding, wire 24, back contacts 25 and 26, in multiple, ofrelays 12AST and 1--2ASD, respectively, wire 27, back contact 28 ofrelay 1-3TR, and front contact 29 of relay I3NWP. This latter contact isclosed only when the cut destination is track 1 or 2. Otherwise, relay13ASD is deenergized by the opening of back contact 18 of relayll3ASDPS. However, relay 1-3ASD holds its front contacts closed untilthe expiration of its slow release period.

If the cut of cars in destined for track 3, relay 1 SASTPS is energizedas soon as track section 13 is occupied. This circuit may be traced fromterminal B over back contact 31 of relay l SAST, front contactdz ofrelay 1--3ASDPS, front contact 33 of relay 13RWP which designatesthatthe cut is scheduled for track 3, and the winding of relay 13ASTPSto terminal N. If the cut is destined for track I or 2, relay I3ASTPS isenergized only when the storage transfer relay in the next storage bankis energized to initiate the transfer of the route storage. This circuitincludes front contact 34 of relay I-ZAST, wire 35 and the windingofirelay 1-3ASTPS. In either case, this latter relay. is held energizedby a stick circuit including back contact 360i relay 1-3TR and frontcontact 37 'andjthe winding'of relay 13-ASTPS. Since relay l--3ASTPSthus remains energized until the cut has cleared the detector tracksection, it assures that only one route transfer or one routecancellation can occur for each track occupancy; In other words, relay1--3ASDPS, which is deenergized and releases following the release ofrelay -l3ASD,cannot again become energized due to the open back contact21 of relay 13ASTPS. Thus, even though a following route destination istransferred from the B storage bank into the corresponding A storagebank at this location resulting in the energization of relay 13ASD, theroute remains stored since relay 13ASD is held energized by its stickcircuit including back contact 18 of relay 1- 3ASDPS. Relay 13ASDPS thuspicks up and releases only once during each occupancy of the detectortrack section 13, a fact which is utilized in the cut counting system aswill be explained hereinafter.

At switch location I2, relay I-2AST is energized when a cut destined fortrack 1 or 2 reaches location 1 3, if no storage is at that time storedin the single A bank at location 1-2. This circuit may be traced fromterminal B at back contact 3'1 of relay I-3AST over front contact 32 ofrelay ASDPS, front contact 33 of relay l- -3NWP which indicates that thecut is routed to location 1- 2, Wire 39, back contact 44 of relay1-2'ASD, and the winding of relay ll.--2AST to terminal N. When relay1-2AST picks up, it completes a stick circuit at its front contact 43which also includes front contact ll of relay 13ASD and wire 42. Relay IZAST thus remains energized until the route storage is transferred fromlocation ll-3 as will be indicated by the release of relay I3ASD. Relay12ASD is then energized, to complete the route transfer, by the circuitextending from terminal B over front contact 44 of relay 12'AST, frontcontact 45 of relay l-2TR, and the Winding of relay 1-2ASD to terminalN. Relay 1-2ASD picks up and completes a stick circuit at its own frontcontact 46 which holds this relay energized until the correspondingdetector track section is occupied as will be indicated by the openingof front contact 45 of relay 1--2TR.

When thecut of cars enters detector track section I2, relay 1-2ASD isdeenergized and at the end of its slow release period releases to openits front contact. This completes a circuit for energizing relay12ASDPS. This circuit may be traced from terminal B over back contact 47of relay l2TR, back contact 48 of relay IZASD, and the winding of relayl2ASDPS to terminal N. The closing of front contact 49 of this latterrelay completes a stick circuit for itself including back contact 47which holds the relayenergized as long-as the track section is occupiedby this cut of cars. ll-2ASD released, the route destination for the cutof cars then occupying the detector track section is cancelled and thestorage bank is free to receive a new route storage. In this case, theenergizing circuit for relay 1-2ASDis completed from front contact 44 ofrelay 1--2AST over front contact 51 of relay I ZASDPS. Thus relay1-2'ASD is reenergized to store a route destination for a following cutof cars and this second route destination cannot be cancelled while thefirst cut still occupies the detector track section. In other words,relay 1-2-ASDPS picks up and holds up only once for each occupancy ofWith relay the switchat the location leads to but one end or storagetrack as at location 1-3, relay ASDPS picks up and then releases as theroute storage is either cancelled or transferred to the next location.Relay ASDPS at such a location, however, cannot pick up again since itsenergizing circuit is interrupted by a back contact of the correspondingrelay ASTPS which is provided only at such a location and picks up andholds up only once for each cut of cars or track circuit occupancy.

Each switch location is also provided with a cut counting device foreach end or storage track to which the switch leads, that is, to which acut may be routed over that switch directly. Therefore, one such deviceis provided at switch location 1-3 and two devices at the switchlocation 1-2. In the form of our invention shown, these cut or carcounting devices are shown as magnetic impulse counters, each designatedby the reference character MIC prefixed by a number corresponding to thetrack for which a track fullness indication is provided. Two of thesemagnetic impulse counters are necessary for each track and the referencecharacters have been suflixed with a numeral 1 or 2 to designate betweenthe two impulse counters for a particular track. It is herein assumed,for purposes of this description, that the magnetic impulse countershere used are similar to those shown and described in any of the LettersPatent of the United States Nos. 2,487,015, 2,538,817, and 2,538,819,granted to John I. Bellamy for Electromagnetic Counting Devices, theearliest patent being issued November 1, 1949, and the latter twopatents being issued January 23, 1951. It is to be understood, however,that other types of counting devices may be used and that our inventionis not limited to the use of a magnetic impulse counter of the formshown in these three reference patents.

Briefly described, each of these magnetic impulse counters shown in thepresent application has two windings and is provided with ten individualarrnatures, each armature controlling a make and a break contact. Thesearmatures are operated sequentially in response to electrical impulses,or pulses of current, flowing through the upper winding of thecorresponding impulse counter. This operating winding of the magneticimpulse counter is designated by an arrow pointing upward inside thesymbol for the particular winding. Only one armature is operated witheach pulse of current flowing through this upper winding, the armaturesbeing interlocked in such a fashion that a pulse of current operates aparticular armature and at the same time conditions the next armature inthe sequence to operate on the next pulse of current. However, only asingle pulse of current is required to operate the first armature. Onceactuated, each armature is held in its operated position by residualmagnetism, supplied in some types from a permanent magnet provided inthe impulse counter. As shown in the drawings, the armatures operatesequentially in the ascending order of the numbers used as referencecharacters for each armature, that is, from 1 to in order. Release ofthe actuated armatures is accomplished by energizing a second or lowerwinding which acts to neutralize the residual magnetism holding thearmatures in their operated position. In the drawing, this releasewinding is designated by an arrow pointing downward inside the symbolfor the winding. Restated in another fashion, the first pulse of currentflowing through the upper winding of one of these magnetic impulsecounters actuates the No. 1 armature to open its upper contact and closeits lower contact. This pulse also conditions the No. 2 armature tooperate on the next pulse of current. However, the No. 2 armature cannotbe operated by this pulse of current which operated the No. l armature.The second pulse of current flowing through the upper winding of thecounter then causes the No. 2 armature to operate, similarly opening theupper contact and closing the lower contact, and conditions the No. 3armature to operate on the succeeding pulse. Once operated,

8 the Nos. 1 and 2 armatures are held in their operated position byresidual magnetism until the impulse counter is released by a pulse ofcurrent flowing through the lower winding.

Each switch location is also provided with an indication device for eachstorage track to which the switch directly leads. As shown, theindicator comprises a series of four lamps which are energized one at atime over contacts of the second magnetic impulse counter. According tothe lamp which is lighted, each indication device displays visibleinformation as to the fullness of the corresponding storage track, thatis, one-quarter, onehalf, three-quarters, or completely full. It is tobe understood, however, that this indicator could supply additionalinformation as to the degree of fullness of the particular storage trackand that other types of indicators may be used, such being contemplatedby the system of our invention.

Each switch location is further provided with a repeater relay for eachNo. 1 magnetic impulse counter. These relays are designated by thereference character P prefixed by a numeral corresponding to the storagetrack with which the counter is associated. Each of these repeaterrelays is energized at a selected point in the sequential operation ofthe associated No. 1 impulse counter, which point is not necessarilyselected to be at the limit of operation of the impulse counter. Whenenergized, the repeater relay causes the upper Winding of the No. 2impulse counter to be energized and also resets the No. l impulsecounter to its initial or at-rest position.

A push-pull button, designated by the basic reference PPB, is alsosupplied for each storage track for which a counting device is provided.These push-pull buttons provide for manual resetting of the trackfullness indicator and the magnetic impulse counters. Each of thesepushpull buttons is provided with contacts which are actuated only whenthe button is pushed or pulled. For example, in each of the buttons,contact arm a is closed in its upper position only when the button ispushed and is closed in its lower position only when the button ispulled. Contact 1) opens only when the button is pushed and will notopen if the button is pulled. Contact c operates in the reverse order,that is, it is opened when the button is pulled but remains closed whenthe operator pushes the push-pull button. Contact d is closed only whenthe push-pull button is pulled by the operator.

It is believed that the operation of the track fullness indicationapparatus will be best understood by describing the operation during thecounting of cuts of cars, and such description follows.

At location 1-3, relay 1-3ASDPS is used to actuate the counters whilereverse switch repeater relay RWP is used to designate those cutsdestined for track 3. Since switch 1-3 controls directly only storagetrack 3, only one counting device is provided at this location. When acut of cars destined for track 3 occupies the detector track section atthis location, magnetic impulse counter 3MIC1 is energized through thecircuit traced from terminal B over front contact 52 of relay 13ASDPS,front contact 53 of relay 1--3RWP, the upper Winding of the magneticimpulse counter, and normally closed contact c of pushpull button 3PPBto terminal N. The release of relay 1-3ASDPS when the route storage iscancelled deenergizes the magnetic impulse counter and, at back contact52, completes a circuit for energizing relay 3P at the proper point inthe operation of magnetic impulse counter 3MIC1. This circuit for relay3P is finally completed over lower contact 10 of the impulse counterwhen relay 1-3ASDPS releases during the occupancy of the track sectionby the tenth cut destined for track 3. When relay 3P picks up, its frontcontact 54 completes a circuit for energizing the upper winding ofimpulse counter 3MIC2, this circuit also including contact c ofpush-pull button 3PPB. Closing of front contact 55 of relay 3P completestion.

a circuit, including normally closed contact b of pushpull button 3PPB,to energize the lower or reset winding of impulse counter SMIC; whichresets this impulse counter to its at-rest position releasing all of thearmatures of the counter. p

It is herein asumed that track 3 will hold 80 cuts of cars of theaverage length of such cuts in this classification yard. Therefore, thecircuit arrangement chosen or selected is such as to energize the secondimpulse counter at the-end of each complete operation of the firstimpulse counter. However, not until the second impulse counter has beenenergized twice is any positive indication provided as to the fullnessof this particular track. In other words, when theupper winding ofimpulse counter SMICZ has been energized by two pulses of current, thecircuit is completed for energizing the one-quarter full lamp of theindicator for track 3. This circuit is traced from terminal B over uppercontact 3 and lower contact 2 of impulse counter 3MlC2, wire 66, andthrough the lamp to terminal N. The-lighting of this one-quarter lampprovides an indication to the retarder operator that track 3 is nowone-quarter full. This indication remains until impulse counter 3MIC2has received two more pulses of current at which time a circuit iscompleted for the one-half full indication lamp by the closing of lowercontact 4 of the impulse counter. It is obvious that before thetrack-full lamp can be lighted, impulse counter SMICZ must receive eightpulses of current through its upper winding which indicates 8 completeoperations of impulse counter 3MIC1 or 80 cuts of cars having passedinto track 3. This track'- full indicatoinilwl remain even though morecuts of full indication will remain even though more cuts of cars entertrack 3 before the track is cleared.

When track 3 is cleared of the cars occupying it after theclassification process has been completed or when the cars in track 3are withdrawn to make up a departing train, the operator of the groupretarders resets his indicator by pulling button 3PPB. The closing ofcontact d of this button energizes the lower winding of impulse counter3MIC2 resetting this impulse counter to its at-rest condition, that is,releasing all of the armatures. The closing of lower contact a of buttonTJPPB energizes the lower winding of impulse counter SMIOl resetting allthe armatures of this impulse counter. It is to be noted that contact ofbutton 3PPB is open at this time to prevent the simultaneous supply ofenergy to both windings of either impulse counter. If the cars occupyingtrack 3 are not all withdrawn, the retarder operator then inserts anindication which corresponds to the number of cars or cuts of carsremaining in that track. This is accomplished by pushing button SPPBwhich closes its upper contact a. to energize the upper winding of impulse counter 3MlC1, the circuit also including contact 0 of the buttonwhich remains closed during this opera- Button 3PPB is pushed once foreach cut of cars which it is desired to insert in the counting device.Contact b of the button is opened each time the button is pushed toprevent supplying energy to the lower winding of this No. 1 counter atthe same time. If impulse counter 3MIC1 is actuated 10 times, relay 3Pwill be energized over its usual circuit which is closed at back contact52 of relay 13ASDPS. This will cause impulse counter 3MIC2 to beenergized through its upper winding. Thus before more cars are routedinto track 3, the remaining cars in that track may be accounted for inorder to provide a proper indication of the track fullness to theoperator during the succeeding switching operation.

At location 12, the occupancy of the detector track section with thecorresponding release of relay ll2TR is used to activate the No. 1impulse counter, with the pulse being interrupted by the release ofrelay 1-2ASD upon the cancellation of the route storage for thatparticular cut. It is to be noted that the impulse counters at thislocation could be controlled by the track relay only.

However, it is desirable to preveht the'continuous ener vationof the No.1 impulse counter during this same track occupancy when a second routeis transferred 'into the storage bank is" prevented by interrupting theim v pulsing circuit when 1-2ASDPS picks up. Since 'there aretwo storagetracks to which this switch directly routes the cars, two sets of trackfullness indication apparatus including the impulse counters and thelamp indicators are provided. The switch position repeater relays areused to designate which of'the'recording devices is to be actuated byany particular cut of cars. Thus, for a cut of cars destined for track1, impulse counter lMlCl will be energized when the cut occupies tracksection 1-2. through a circuit traced fromterminal B over back contact56 of relay 1-2TR, back contact 57 of relay 1ZASDPS, front contact '58of relay 1--2ASD, front.

contact 5% of relay 1-2NWP,' the upper winding of impulse counter lMlCl,and contact 0 of button'lPPB to terminal N. The first or No. 1 armatureof this impulse counter will thus be operated to close its lower con:tact and open the corresponding upper contact. If the cut of cars isdestined to track 2, the circuit may be traced over back contacts 56 and57, front contact 58, and thence over front contact as of relay 1-2RWP,the upper winding of impulse counter ZMiCl, and contact 0 of button ZPPBto terminal N. In either case, the pulse of energy through the upperwinding of the corresponding impulse counter is terminated by therelease ofrelay l2ASD to open its front contactSS at the end of its slowrelease period. It is to be remembered that this relay is deenergized bythe release of trackrelay Zi2TR, opening its front contact 45, when thecut occupied the associated track section.

' The following pickup of relay 1-2ASDPS completes a circuit over backcontact 56 of relay 1-2TR and front contact 57 of relay 1-2ASDPS toenergize, at the proper time, the repeater relays IP and 2P. When relay1? picks up, the closing of its front contact 61 energizes the upperwinding of impulse counter IMICZ over an obvious circuit causing thefirst armature of this impulse counter to operate. 7 pletes a circuitthrough the lower winding of impulse counter lMIC]. and contact b ofbutton EPPB to reset 7 this impulse counter, releasing all of itsarmatures to their at-rest position. The energization of relay 2P toclose its front contacts energizes the upper winding of the impulsecounter ZMICZ and the lower winding of impulse counter ZMICI, thecircuits being completed at front contacts 63 and 64, respectively. Thiscauses the No. l armature of impulse counter ZMICZ to be operated andresets impulse counter ZMICl to its at-rest condition.

For purposes of this description, it is herein assumed that track 1 is'relatively short and will hold only 32 average length cuts of cars.Therefore, a connection for the circuit for relay ii is made to lowercontact 8 of impulse counter lMICl so that impulse counter IMICZ .lSenergized by a pulse of current in its upper winding for every eightcuts of cars which pass over switch 1-2 into track 1; Thecircuits forenergizing the various lamps of the track fullness indicator for track 1are then made at lower contacts 1, 2, 3, and 4 of impulse counterEMICIL. The circuits for these lamps are similar to those previouslytraced for the indicator for track 3 and are Closing of front contact 62com-- impulse counter ZMICZ to give the corresponding indi= cations ofone-quarter, one-half, three-quarters, and completely full for thisparticular track.

The impulse counters at this switch location may be manually controlledby use of buttons IPPB and ZPPB in a manner similar to that alreadydescribed for the impulse counters at switch 13. It is believed that thecircuits for this control are obvious from an examination of thedrawings when taken in connection with the previous discussion inconnection with the other location. It is to be noted, in consideringthese circuits, that energy for relays IP and 2P, when required duringsuch manual operation, is supplied over front contact 56 of relay1--2TR.

The system of our invention thus provides a cut counting means whichwill supply to the operator of the group retarders in a railwayclassification yard an indication of the relative fullness of each ofthe various storage tracks in that yard. The operator may combine thisinformation with that provided as to car weight and car rollingresistance to more efliciently select a proper leaving speed for thevarious cuts of cars from the group retarders in order that they mayenter the storage tracks and couple with cars already standing there ata speed which will not damage any car or its contents. This cut countingand track fullness system utilizes the apparatus already available inthe automatic switching system for the railway classification yard andthus requires a minimum amount of additional equipment in order toprovide the indication. The circuits are so arranged that only one countis made for each cut of cars as it enters a storage track, regardless ofwhether or not a route for a following car is transferred into thestorage banks at the corresponding switch location prior to the leadingcut clearing the switch location. In other words, the system of ourinvention provides to the retarder operator in such a classificationyard an indication of the relative fullness of each of the storagetracks in that yard without requiring a completely separate system ofdetection of the movements of the cars.

Although we have herein shown and described but two forms of apparatusfor a car counting system embodying our invention, it is to beunderstood that various changes and modifications may be made thereinWithin the scope of the appended claims without departing from thespirit and scope of our invention.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim is:

1. At a railway track switch over which cuts of cars are routed intodiverging tracks in accordance with preselected routes stored in anautomatic switching system in the order of the approaching cuts, eachroute being moved into an active position to control said switch priorto the arrival of the corresponding cut and cancelled upon the arrivalof said cut, the combination com prising, an electrical counting devicewhich is advanced one count for each period of energization, anenergizing circuit for said counting device, and an indicator, saidcircuit including a first contact closed in response to the passage of acar cut over said switch only if a preselected route is stored in saidactive position and a second contact controlled by said switch andclosed only when said switch is positioned for a particular route, saidfirst contact re-opening after the cancellation of said preselectedroute and being held open during the remainder of the passage of saidcut, said indicator being controlled by said counting device to displayan indication in accordance with the count to which said device has beenadvanced.

2. At a railway track switch over which cuts of cars are routed intodiverging tracks according to preselected routes stored at said switchin the order of the approaching cuts, the stored route for a particularcut of cars being moved into an active position to control said switchprior to the arrival of that cut and being released from said activeposition during the passage of that cut over said switch; acut countingmeans for cuts of cars moving over said switch into a particular track,said counting means including a counting device which advances one countduring each period of energization, an indicator controlled by saiddevice to provide an indication according to the count to which saiddevice has advanced, and an energizing circuit for said device includinga first contact closed only when said switch is positioned to route cutsinto said particular track and a second contact closed in response tothe passage of a cut of cars over said switch only if a preselectedroute is stored in said active position, said second contact re-openingafter the stored route has been released and being held open during thepassage of that cut of cars.

3. At a railway detector track section including a track switch andthrough which cuts of cars are routed according to preselected routesstored at said track section in the order of the approaching cuts ofcars, the stored route for the next approaching cut being moved into anactive position to control said switch prior to the entry of that cutinto said track section, the stored route for each cut of cars beingreleased from said active position when the corresponding cut occupiessaid track section, a cut counting means to count cuts of cars movingthrough said track section into a particular route, said counting meansincluding a counting device which ad-' vances one count during eachperiod of energization, an indicator controlled by said device todisplay an indication in accordance with the count to which said devicehas advanced, and a circuit having connections when closed to energizesaid device, said circuit including a first contact closed when saidswitch is positioned to establish said particular route and a secondcontact closed when a cut of cars occupies said track section only if aroute is stored in said active position, said second contact beingre-opened when the route is released from said active position andremaining open while that cut of cars occupies said track section.

4. At a railway track switch over which cuts of cars are routed intodiverging tracks according to preselected routes stored at said switchin the order of the approaching cuts, the stored route for a particularca-r cut being brought into an active position prior to the arrival ofthat cut, the combination comprising: a cut counting device for eachpossible route over said switch, each said counting device beingadvanced one step during each period of energization; an energizingcircuit for each of said devices having connections to cause theassociated device to count the number of car cuts passing into thecorresponding route, and indicating means for each possible routeoperably connected to the corresponding device and adapted to display anindication of the position to which said corresponding device hasadvanced, each said energizing circuit including a repeater contactclosed only when the corresponding route is established, a detectorcontact closed in response to the arrival of a car cut and anothercontact closed when a route is stored at said switch in said activeposition, said other contact being opened a predetermined time after thearrival of said car cut.

5. At a railway track switch over which cuts of cars are routed intodiverging tracks according to preselected routes stored at said switchin the order of the approaching cuts, the stored route for a particularcut of cars being moved into an active position to control said switchprior to the arrival of that cut and being released from said activeposition during the passage of that cut over said switch, a cut countingmeans for cuts of cars moving over said switch into a particular track,said counting means including a counting device which advances one countduring each period of energization, an indicator controlled by saiddevice to display an indication according to the count to which saiddevice has advanced, and an energizing circuit for said device includinga first contact controlled by said switch to close when said switch ispositioned to route cuts into said particular track, a second contactresponsive to the occupancy of the track to close during the passage ofa cut of cars over said switch, and a third contact controlled by theactive route storage position to close when a preselected route isstored in said active position and to open when the stored route isreleased.

6. At a railway detector track section including a track switch andthrough which cuts of cars are routed according to preselected routesstored at said track section in the order of the approaching cuts ofcars, the stored route for the next approaching out being moved into anactive position to control said switch prior to the entry of that cutinto said track section, the stored route for each cut of cars beingreleased from said active position when the corresponding cut occupiessaid track section, a cut counting means to count cuts of cars movingthrough said track section into a particular route, said counting meansincluding a counting device which advances one count during each periodof energization, an indicator controlled by said device to display anindication in accordance with the count to which said device hasadvanced, and an energizing circuit for said device including a firstcontact closed when said switch is positioned to establish saidparticular route, a second contact closed in response to a cut of carsoccupying said track section, a third contact closed in response to apreselected route being stored in said active position and becoming openwhen the stored route is released, and a normally closed fourth contactopened in joint response to a cut of cars occupying said track sectionand to the release of the corresponding stored route from said activeposition, said fourth contact being held open while that cut occupiessaid track section.

7. At a railway track switch over which cuts of cars are routed todiverging routes according to a Sequence of preselected routes stored atsaid switch in the order of the approaching cuts, the route for the nextout being brought into an active position prior to the arrival of thatcut and released from said active position during the passage of thecorresponding cut of cars over said switch, counting apparatus to countthe number of car cuts passing over said switch along a particular routeincluding a counting device which advances one count during each periodof energization, an indication circuit arrangement controlled by saiddevice in accordance with the count to which said device has advanced,and an energizing circuit for said device including a contact closedonly when said switch is positioned to route a cut along said particularroute and controlled jointly by the release of a stored route and by thepassage of a corresponding car cut over said switch to energize saiddevice once and only once for each cut passing over said switch alongsaid particular route.

8. At a railway track switch over which cuts of cars are routed todiverging routes according to a sequence of prereleased from said activeposition during the passage of the corresponding cut of cars over saidswitch, the combination comprising, a counting device which advances onecount during each period of energization, an indication means controlledby said device to provide an output in accordance with the count towhich said device has advanced, and a circuit means to energize saiddevice for only a single period each time a cut moving along aparticular route passes over said switch, said circuit means including acontact closed only when said switch is positioned to direct a out alongsaid particular route and being controlled jointly by the passage of acar cut over said switch and by the corresponding release of a storedroute to close for only one predetermined interval during the passage ofeach cut.

9. In 'a railway classification yard which is provided with an automaticswitching system to route cuts of cars into preselected storage tracks,track fullness measuring apparatus for each storage track including acounting device which advances one count during each period ofenergization, an indicator controlled by said device to provide afullness measurement for the corresponding storage track according tothe position to which said device has advanced, and an energizingcircuit for said de vice including a contact closed only when the lastswitch in the route to said corresponding storage track is positioned toroute cuts of cars into that track and controlled by said switchingsystem to energize said device for only a cut of cars destined for saidcorresponding storage track.

10. In a railway classification yard which is provided with an automaticswitching system to route cuts of cars into preselected storage tracks,track fullness measuring apparatus for each storage track including acounting'device which advances one count during each period ofenergization, an output circuit arrangement controlled by said device inaccordance with the position to which it has advanced to provide afullness measurement for the corresponding storage track, and anenergizing circuit having connections to energize said device once andonly once for each cut-of cars entering the corresponding storage track,said energizing circuit including a contact closed only when the lastswitch preceding said corresponding storage track is positioned to routecuts into that track and a circuit portion controlled by the operationof said switching system to close for only one interval during thepassage of a cut of cars over said last switch.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,586,989 Haines June 1, 1926 1,782,052 Stoker Nov. 18, 1930 2,045,201Rabourdin June 23, 1936 2,487,0115 Bellamy Nov. 1, 1949 2,700,728Brixner Jan. 25, 1955 2,863,991 Mishelevich Dec. 9, 1958 2,964,617Mishelevich et all Dec. 13, 1960

